Benton & Bowles

The agency's success was closely related to the rise in popularity of radio. Benton & Bowles invented the radio soap opera to promote their clients' products, and by 1936 were responsible for three of the four most popular radio programs on the air. [1]

Victor G. Bloede, former CEO who helped introduce the slogan Good to the last drop for Maxwell House coffee. Mr. Bloede was hired as a copywriter in 1950 and rose quickly, becoming a vice president in 1955 and regularly receiving promotions before being named president and chief executive in 1968. He was the first and only creative executive to run Benton. His promotion came as several agencies were considering moving creative talent, rather than businessmen, into management.[2]

Shepherd Mead joined B&B in 1936 as a mail-room clerk. He had worked his way up to a vice-presidency by the time he left in 1956 to pursue a full-time writing career. His most famous book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, published in 1952, satirizes his corporate experiences at the agency. Written in his spare time — before work and on weekends — the book was a best-seller, and in 1961 it was adapted into a hit Broadwaymusical, with songs by Frank Loesser and a libretto by Abe Burrows, which in turn became a movie in 1967.

Howard Stern worked as an assistant media planner for Benton & Bowles in 1976 before launching his successful radio career.